Sport Confidential: How can banned player be nominated for RLPA award?
If the ‘every-kid-gets-a-prize’ nomination process for the RLPA Players’ Championship Award were its worst feature then it would merely raise eyebrows - sadly it gets worse.
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The Rugby League Players Association’s endless list of contenders for their Players’ Champion Award - the equivalent of the NRL’s Dally M - has raised eyebrows.
For a start, the list of 64 contenders for a player-of-the-year award is farcical.
Surely, the RLPA could have whittled down the list to 10 genuine contenders, rather than the every-kid-gets-a-prize nomination process, including many nominees who have a better chance of winning Powerball than the Players’ Champion.
But the biggest concern is Warriors winger Marcelo Montoya being eligible to win the top gong despite calling another NRL player a “fa**ot” this season.
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Montoya was banned for four matches by the NRL for using a homophobic slur against Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt, but despite his disgraceful act, the Warriors flyer is in the running to win the Players Champion.
Under Dally M rules, NRL stars lose points for every match in which they are suspended, while in the AFL, players are ineligible for the prestigious Brownlow Medal if they are guilty of an on-field offence.
RLPA organisers should scratch Montoya immediately, which would only leave 63 contenders for the Players’ Champion.
SAD SUNDAY: HOW BRONCOS ‘CELEBRATED’ FINALS EXIT
Mad Monday became Sad Sunday for the Broncos this year.
The Broncos hosted low-key post-season “celebrations” after being bundled out of the NRL by the Dragons on Saturday night.
After a few quiet post-game beers, the Broncos returned to Brisbane on Sunday, with a few kicking on at a local pub.
But given it was Father’s Day, and the nature of their season finish, there was no great shenanigans to celebrate.
The Broncos were well looked after, with former SAS soldier Adam Walsh – the club’s welfare manager – ensuring they stayed out of trouble.
BRONCOS WARNING OVER WALTERS CALL
Kevin Walters’ management has appealed for Broncos bosses not to sack the club legend in the wake of Brisbane’s stunning finals collapse.
Broncos chief executive Dave Donaghy began a forensic review on Tuesday, holding talks with players, and Walters will also be interviewed this week as Brisbane bosses demand answers for their late-season implosion.
In the space of six weeks, the Broncos plummeted from fourth to ninth — putting Walters’ position as head coach under the microscope.
Walters is off-contract next season. There are fears he may not survive for the 2023 premiership kick-off after missing the playoffs in consecutive seasons at a Broncos club that has a ruthless history of sacking coaches for just one finals failure.
Walters’ predecessors Ivan Henjak (2010), Anthony Griffin (2014) and Anthony Seibold (2020) were all moved on by the Broncos after missing the top eight.
But Walters’ agent Chris Orr warned the club of the dangers of sacking ‘Kevvie’, insisting the former Queensland Origin had vastly improved the Broncos during his two seasons in charge.
Inheriting a wooden-spoon outfit from Seibold, Walters advanced the Broncos to 14th in 2021 and had Brisbane in the top eight for 22 of 25 rounds this season, finishing with a positive win-loss record of 13-11.
“I think blind Freddy can see what a remarkable job Kevvie has done taking over the Broncos,” Orr said.
“The club was at rock bottom when he took the reins.
“When Kevvie started, the Broncos had no CEO and no head of football, plus a deflated playing group and a real disconnection with the fans, especially the Old Boys.
“In a matter of 18 months, Kevvie has turned the Broncos into a competitive unit on and off the field and he now has the support of a CEO (Dave Donaghy) and head of football (Ben Ikin).
“He is leading the Broncos in the right direction and I am confident the club is supportive of him.
“I know for a fact Kevvie feels supported by Broncos bosses and he is extremely confident in his ability to lead the playing squad to success.”
Walters’ 13 victories this year represented an 85 per cent improvement on the seven matches Brisbane won in his first season in charge at Red Hill in 2021.
Ikin said Brisbane’s review was not a witch-hunt designed to bring down Walters, but rather explore ways to beef-up the Broncos’ football program to make the club a bona fide title contender.
Ikin confirmed the Broncos will be seeking a detailed presentation from Walters on how he plans to address Brisbane’s freefall.
“We have this silver-bullet theory in rugby league that if you kill the coach and you get a new one, it (a club’s problems) will all solve itself,” he said.
“Football programs win premierships. We want to build a world-class footy program that contends every year. The Storm and the Roosters have shown us that you can do it.
“We will hold department reviews at the end of the week.
“There will be tough questions about things that happened this year in our football program for multiple people that need answering, so that others can understand what took place.
“If you can argue your case, and demonstrate that you have learnt from your successes and failures this year and have a plan about advancing the program, then you keep your job.
“We got closer to a premiership this year. We didn’t finish where we wanted to finish, but we got closer to a premiership and the responsibility for everybody in this off-season is to build a plan to get closer once again.
“We have to keep closing the gap until we get ourselves into contender status and once you start contending, like the Storm and Roosters, there is no reason why it should ever stop.”
LODGE HAS LAST LAUGH ON BRONCOS
Broncos football boss Ben Ikin has defended the club’s decision to release Matt Lodge as the controversial prop prepares for his Roosters finals debut.
While Brisbane players will be watching the NRL finals from their lounge rooms, their former Broncos teammate Lodge will turn out for the Roosters in Sunday’s sudden-death showdown against Souths at Allianz Stadium.
It caps the mother of all comebacks for Lodge. In May, he sensationally quit the Warriors following a fallout with club owner Mark Robinson, which came less than a year after Lodge was given a monster $1 million-plus payout to leave the Broncos.
Lodge has been a revelation for the Roosters, scoring two tries from eight games, but Ikin says the Broncos have no regrets over his release, insisting the prop was not the right fit for Brisbane’s football program.
“What I have learned in my role here, is that there is no point assembling a group of players for some mythical coach who can coach all of the players, all of the time in all conditions,” Ikin said.
“My job was to get to know my head coach (Kevin Walters), what he stands for, what he values, how he wants his team to play and go through the roster and figure out who is compatible and who is not.
“The polite way to say it is that we believe Matt Lodge and Tevita Pangai Jr (now at the Bulldogs) didn’t fit.
“They are both very talented. Matt Lodge is proving now in the right environment (at the Roosters) that he is still a very capable player, but for us to move forward and for Kev to have a list that was going to fit, we had to make those calls.”
MUNSTER’S BOOZE BAN DILEMMA
Queensland Origin star Cameron Munster is about to confront one of the toughest decisions of his life.
And it has nothing to do with whether to stay at Melbourne or defect to the Dolphins.
In the coming weeks, Munster’s 12-month booze ban will officially come to an end - right on the eve of Australia’s World Cup campaign to England.
The last time Munster was part of a World Cup campaign - in 2017 - he was kicked out of camp by Australia coach Mal Meninga after a drunken pub altercation with Ben Hunt in Darwin.
Now, with Munster only needing to stay fit to be a shoo-in for Australian selection, the Maroons maestro must decide if he will continue to shun the demon drink a world away in the UK.
Munster was slapped with an alcohol ban by the NRL and the Storm for his role in Melbourne’s white-powder scandal last season.
While on the wagon this season, Munster has produced some of the best football of his career and he has clearly found stability in his life, celebrating the birth of his first child while off the drink.
Munster has been candid about his battles with anxiety and alcohol. NRL, Storm and Australian officials have reason to be nervous if Munster opts to resume drinking alcohol during the Kangaroos’ World Cup campaign.
Munster has taken his year-long sobriety seriously. He has read a book called ‘Kick the Drink’ and when Queensland teammates were drinking XXXX in the wake of their epic Suncorp decider upset of the Blues, Munster was seen celebrating with bottles of water.
“When you drink you should be celebrating something,” Munster told News Corp after completing a stint in rehab last December.
“I was doing it and writing myself off. Maybe to release a bit of anxiety.
“I was getting to a stage where … when I got out to have a drink I couldn’t stop.
“I’ve never had an issue when I’m sober. But the nights I have 10 or 15 beers I make poor decisions.
“I had urges to drink when I was in (rehab) but I’ve found ways to deal with it now.
“In Melbourne I can get out and have a quiet drink.
“In Queensland, a fan will come up and buy me a drink. Then 10 people will buy me a drink. It gets messy.”
MARTIN v WALSH IN GOOD LOOKS BATTLE
Departing Broncos fullback Te Maire Martin reckons Brisbane has jagged a better-looking No. 1 to replace him in Warriors recruit Reece Walsh.
Martin and Walsh will trade clubs after the Warriors released Walsh from his contract to return to Red Hill.
The Warriors have signed Martin on a three-year contract after he resurrected his career in Brisbane this season.
Martin is genetically-blessed but he reckons the Broncos have jagged an even easier-on-the-eye fullback to replace him.
“He is a gun player, he is going to go really well here,” Martin said.
“I’m 26 now and getting older.
“Who do you want? An old not-so-good looking fella or a young good looking player?
“I know who I’d be taking.”
In some good news for the Broncos, Walsh has been cleared of a serious pec injury after leaving the field early in his last appearance for the Warriors.
Walsh sustained a pec strain but won’t require surgery, clearing him to hit the ground running when the Broncos begin pre-season training in November.
HOSTPLUS CUP COPS A BLOW
The Hostplus Cup’s showcase event has been dealt a ratings blow after being forced to go up against the AFL grand final.
Queensland’s top competition will play its decider at Redcliffe on Saturday September 24, with the match to be broadcast live on Channel 9.
There was a push to play the game on Sunday September 25 to avoid clashing with the AFL’s premier event on Channel 7.
However a desire to promote the NRLW has forced the match to be moved to a Saturday time slot with a 3.15pm kick-off.
That is because NRLW finals will be played on the Sunday and the NRL didn’t want the Hostplus Cup grand final and NRLW being played at the same time.
The AFL grand final will begin at 2.30pm on Channel 7, meaning it will be in direct competition with the Hostplus Cup grand final.
Queensland’s top competition has lost regular free-to-air television coverage in recent years and this is another blow to its exposure.
Last year’s decider was one of the highest-rating Queensland Cup grand finals of all-time given it was played a week after the NRL grand final in free airspace.
GOLD COAST KID EYES THE NFL
He stands 203cm and tips the scales at a whopping 120kg. Now Gold Coast monster Jaylen Chan-Tung is the latest Aussie in the sights of NFL scouts.
The 20-year-old Keebra Park High product has been selected to trial for the NFL’s International Player Pathway program.
It is the very program that Cowboys and Queensland Origin star Valentine Holmes capitalised on when he quit the NRL at the end of 2018 to try his luck in American Football.
Holmes spent 12 months in the NFL’s International program and while he ultimately failed to make the big time, Chan-Tung now has his shot at gridiron glory.
Chan-Tung started out playing rugby league but took up gridiron in Australia in 2018 after being identified as a possible NFL product with his size and good footwork for a big man.
Chan-Tung played as a defensive linesman locally for the Gold Coast Stingrays and will travel to the UK in coming weeks to undergo testing in his bid to win a spot in the NFL’s International program.
BATTING AFTER BRADMAN FOR DOLPHINS
Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett is keeping a close eye on Newcastle centre Bradman Best.
Sport Confidential can reveal Best is on the radar of the Dolphins amid speculation the hulking Newcastle ace is under pressure to lift his game at the Knights.
The 21-year-old last year signed a three-year deal with the Knights and was hailed as a possible NSW Origin bolter after an eye-catching 2020 season that saw him score eight tries from 11 appearances.
But Best has struggled to produce his best form over the past 18 months. There are concerns about his attitude, which reared its head last month when Best was stood down for Newcastle’s clash against Canberra after he was late to the team bus following a loss to the Broncos.
Bennett has not made any approach to Best, but if the Knights are open to an early release, is it understood the super coach would consider a Dolphins lifeline for the hard-running centre.
BRONCO PLOTS GALLEN DOWNFALL
Brisbane prop Tom Flegler has emerged as a key weapon in Justin Hodges’ plan to produce a boxing boilover against Paul Gallen next Thursday night.
Hodges is in the final week of preparations for his heavyweight bout with Origin rival Gallen and the 40-year-old has enlisted the help of Queensland Origin firebrand Flegler.
Flegler is renowned for his punching power at the Broncos and he has been sparring Hodges to help the former Brisbane skipper, who will retire from boxing regardless of the result against Gallen at Nissan Arena.
Gallen, who will make history by fighting two men - Ben Hannant and Hodges - on the same night, says no amount of sparring muscle will help the former Maroons centre.
“Hodgo is a big man but he can’t even handle three-minute rounds,” Gallen said.
“I will be too fit and too good for both guys, but I would love to knock Hodges out and send him into retirement.”
TITANS WOMEN FOLLOW MEN
Former NRL Integrity Unit investigator Karyn Murphy has had a brutal introduction to coaching in the NRLW.
Murphy took the reins of the Gold Coast Titans’ women’s side after Jamie Feeney guided the team to the NRLW finals series earlier this year in their inaugural season.
But this season has been one to forget for the Titans women, who are without a win after three games and sitting last on the six-team ladder.
A former police detective, Murphy quit her job as the NRL’s top cop to head up the Gold Coast’s women’s program.
But the Titans women have followed the men - who finished 13th - and crashed out of title contention in what’s been a disappointing campaign.
The Titans face the second-last Eels on Saturday in Melbourne in what is a good opportunity to break their duck.
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